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Advanced Educational Psychology
ED 421, 3 credits, call# 11857
Fall 2004; (Spring 2009 student-input added)
Tuesdays 5:00-8:00, EPASW 2419
Instructor: Dr. Theresa A. Thorkildsen
Office: EPASW 3549 Phone: 312.996.8138
Hours: Before class and by appointment
E-mail: thork@uic.edu (The most reliable method for out-of-class communication)
Web site: http://thork.people.uic.edu/fair/
Purpose
This course will introduce students to a variety of issues that affect academic performance. Readings are
organized around the traditional categories of learning, identity development, motivation, discipline, and
assessment. For each of these categories, students will read about different theoretical approaches to
articulate and defend a personal theory of learning and teaching.
Readings
There are two required textbooks for this course and a set of assigned articles. A copy fee of $25.00 will
be charged for handouts. The assigned books are:
th
Bjorklund, D. F. (2005). Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (4
ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Thorkildsen, T. A., & Nicholls, J. G. (with Bates, A., Brankis, N., & DeBolt, T.). (2002). Motivation and the
struggle to learn: Responding to fractured experience. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Course Expectations
The course has many agendas aside from simply learning the ideas represented in the readings and
lectures. The activities planned for the course are intended to simulate those you may be expected to
participate in while teaching. Successful students will remain conscious of the following expectations.
Read and reflect on new ideas each week. This class relies heavily on weekly discussion of the
readings. The most important assignment, therefore, is to read each week’s assignments before coming
to class and prepare to use the ideas when participating in class. Although I do not take formal
attendance, the course is structured to maximize learning and everyone’s absence is felt. Excessive
absences (e.g., more than two classes) have made it impossible for students in past semesters to follow
what is going on when they do attend, and typically leads to normatively low grades.
Participate in class discussions and activities. Students will be expected to participate in small
group activities, large class discussions, and at least one presentation over the course of the semester.
Grades will focus on individual accomplishment, but teamwork is essential in teaching and we will practice
many of the collaboration skills needed in schools. As many educators quickly learn, “many hands make
light work.”
Be a respectful citizen when collaborating with your peers. We will negotiate a strategy for
forming small work groups that will complete activities in class. In the past, students have differed in
whether they prefer to work in groups structured like small curricular departments (e.g., preschool,
elementary, secondary, college) or whether they prefer to change group members every couple weeks.
Long-term connections are often made in these courses when students collaborate in stable groups, but
short-term connections are also intellectually interesting. Groups will be successful if they are able to
complete assigned tasks, generate ideas for using theoretical ideas in the classroom, and collaborate in
the production of a presentation to the class as a whole.
Discover more uses for technology. Each student will be expected to learn something new about
technology. Rather than require a “technology course” we have decided to expect students to learn as
they go—the same way most educators learn about the latest tools of the trade. UIC is now requiring
most students to have access to the Internet and preferably to own some kind of computer. The syllabus
Advanced Educational Psychology Page 1 of 6
will be posted on the Web and readings and discussion questions will be added as the course progresses.
A class listserv will be maintained in which students can post announcements, ask general questions, and
share resources. Small groups will be asked to communicate via e-mail about particular activities and
each student will be asked to find at least one outside reading from a professional journal in their field.
Students will also participate in a group presentation that includes the use of some form of technology.
Complete any certification-related tasks. All certification students are now being asked to learn
TaskStream, a program for designing and tracking lesson planning, course syllabi, and other features of a
teaching portfolio. This course will not be heavily dependent on that program, but students will be asked
to complete at least one survey online. Part of one class session will be devoted to informing students of
training sessions and other TaskStream goals set by the Council on Teacher Education.
Assignments
Instead of tests, students will be asked to complete a variety of individual writing activities as well as
those associated with group work. All assignments will use a take-home format so that the final product
may be typed using some sort of word processing program. Students may turn in assignments as
attachments on e-mail, but should use Word for PCs if they plan to do so. The Educational Technology
Lab on the 2nd floor of EPASW is available for translating documents and ensuring that all students have
access to computers. During peak times, hackers are very busy and it will be important to maintain
communication about when assignments are turned in and received.
Each student will find it useful to keep a personal notebook containing all their assignments until
they have completed the entire teacher certification program. There are many essays and application
forms to complete, all of which involve some use of material we will cover this semester. Completing all
course assignments to the best of your ability can save time later in the program.
Group tasks (25% of the final grade). Although I will not collect group tasks each week, there will
be occasional stock-taking assignments and tasks that groups will turn in. These will involve assessments
of the process of group work as well as the products of your discussions.
Initial reflection paper (15% of final grade). By the third week of the semester, students will be
asked to turn in a short summary of their future goals as a teacher, experience in schools, and
observations about the age group and context in which they hope to teach.
Midterm (30% of the final grade). This structured writing task will require a stock-taking of the
ideas covered in the readings and an attempt to imagine how they might be used in teaching. Each
student will be asked to visualize him or herself as an instructor and to evaluate which theories of learning
and motivation will best meet the needs of their future students.
Final project (30% of the final grade). Students will be asked to complete a two part final project
in which they design a learning environment, including classroom management and assessment
strategies, to facilitate learning among the students they hope to teach. A written portion of this project
will be completed individually and will involve answers to a set of guiding questions. A presentation
portion of this project will involve collaborating with other class members in either providing a
demonstration of planned activities (asking classmates to role play students in the appropriate age group)
or in otherwise finding a way to help everyone see the best features of the planned classroom structure.
Accessibility
UIC strives to ensure the accessibility of programs, classes, and services to students with disabilities.
Reasonable accommodations can be arranged for students with various types of disabilities, such as
documented learning disabilities, vision or hearing impairments, and emotional or physical disabilities.
Students who need accommodations for this class should let the instructor know their needs and she will
help them obtain assistance.
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Tentative Schedule
Week Topic Readings
th
Aug. 24 Jigsaw learning Pedersen, Faucher, & Eaton
See week 2
st
Aug. 31 Dilemmas of teaching Colsant
Special Training—essential for everyone Thorkildsen & Jordan
Discussion questions
Sept. 7th What is learning? Bjorklund
Discussion questions
First Assignment Due
Sept. 14th Deep and superficial learning Bjorklund
Discussion questions
st
Sept. 21 Age-specific issues in learning Bjorklund
Discussion questions
Sept. 28th Addressing students’ needs Thorkildsen & Nicholls
Weiner, Graham
Discussion questions
Oct. 5th Facilitating choice, self-determination, or Thorkildsen & Nicholls
autonomy Deci& Ryan
Grolnick & Ryan
Ryan & Deci
Discussion questions
Oct. 12th Balancing freedom and structure Thorkildsen & Nicholls
Ford, et al.
Jagacinski & Nicholls, Schunk
Discussion questions
Oct. 19th Myths and classroom management Beyer
Gathercoal
Catt
Mid-term exams due
Oct. 26th Issues of control and choice Collins; Lewis; McNeil
Henry & Abowitz
Discussion questions
Nov. 2nd Learning and assessment Green; Maxwell; Paris & Paris
Taylor & Nolen
Nov. 9th Coordinating philosophy, psychology, and Kohlberg & Mayer
educational practices
Discussion questions
Final exam available
Teaching dilemmas
th
Nov. 16 Group presentations
rd
Nov. 23 Thanksgiving Week No class
th
Nov. 30 Group presentations
th
Dec. 7 Group presentations (if necessary) Final exams due
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Readings
Week 1: Jigsaw learning
Pedersen, E., Faucher, T. A., & Eaton, W. W. (1978). A new perspective on the effects of first grade
teachers on children’s subsequent adult status. Harvard Educational Review, 48, 1-31.
Complete readings for Week 2
Week 2: Developing a sense of the dilemmas of teaching in urban contexts
Colsant, L. (1995). “Hey man, why do we gotta take this…?” Learning to listen to students. In J. G. Nicholls & T. A.
Thorkildsen (Eds.), Reasons for learning: Expanding the conversation on student-teacher collaboration (pp.
62-89). New York: Teachers College Press.
Thorkildsen, T. A., & Jordan, C. (1995). Is there a right way to collaborate? When the experts speak, can
the customers be right? In J. G. Nicholls & T. A. Thorkildsen (Eds.), Reasons for learning: Expanding
the conversation on student-teacher collaboration (pp. 137-161). New York: Teachers College Press.
Week 3: What is learning?
th
Bjorklund, D. F. (2005). Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (4 ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
An introduction to cognitive development
Biological bases of cognitive development
The social construction of mind: Sociocultural perspectives on cognitive development
Cognitive development: What changes and how?
Week 4: Deep and superficial learning
th
Bjorklund, D. F. (2005). Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (4 ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Piaget and the neo-Piagetians
Information-Processing Approaches
Learning to think on their own: the role of strategies in cognitive development
Week 5: Age-specific issues in learning
th
Bjorklund, D. F. (2005). Children’s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (4 ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Early childhood Problem solving and reasoning
Infant perception Social cognition
Spatial cognition Schooling and cognition
Representation Approaches to the study of intelligence
Memory development Origins, modifications, and stability of
Language development intellectual differences
Elementary grades Adulthood
Memory development Problem solving and reasoning
Language development Social cognition
Problem solving and reasoning Schooling and cognition
Social cognition Approaches to the study of intelligence
Schooling and cognition Origins, modifications, and stability of
Middle school and adolescence intellectual differences
Memory development
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